The+Cycle+of+Sin+in+As+I+Lay+Dying

Ryan Christ  April 7, 2008   Mr. Tanner Pd. 4   Man’s Total Depravity: The Cycle of Sin in As I Lay Dying “My children were of me alone, of the wild blood boiling along the earth, of me and of all that lived; of none and of all” (Faulkner, 1930, p.175). This quote by Addie Bundren in William Faulkner’s __As I Lay Dying__ recognizes the underlying theme that children are the product of their parents. Addie was the mother of the poor, southern Bundren family, who had an adulterous affair with Reverend Whitfield. In this context, Faulkner uses blood to represent sin. Thus he implies that sin is inborn, as Addie’s children were “of...[her] alone,” and that sin is present in “all” people. Faulkner advances this concept of a hereditary cycle of sin by establishing a strong relationship between the attributes of parents and their offspring. By developing symbols and by linking the characteristics of Addie and Anse with the sinful natures of their children, Faulkner proposes that human depravity is inherited and universal. By characterizing Addie, Faulkner establishes symbols in order to figuratively express his gothic opinion about the nature of sin. In describing Addie, Brooks states that she is a desperate woman, driven by her quest for “…some kind of communion,” with other people (1963, p. 149). As a school teacher, she would beat her children in order to make them “aware of her,” and out of this “aloneness,” she took Anse as her husband. However, Anse fails to quench her loneliness; in Addie’s mind he remains, “…outside the circle” (Faulkner, Addie sect.). Therefore, Addie entered into an affair with Whitfield. She comments on this relationship in her narrative, stating, “I would think of the sin as garments which we would remove in order to shape and coerce the terrible blood” (p.175). She also refers to this “terrible blood…boiling through the land,” as a symbol of “bitter” sin (p.174). Therefore, Addie comes to associate herself with an abstract quality of sin or blood that runs rampant and “boils” throughout the land, among people. By her association of common depravity with others, Addie breaks free from her isolation; however, her deceit will permeate into the characters of he children. Faulkner manifests sin in Addie and Anse in order to emphasize the concept that it is passed on to their children. As cited by Baldwin, “[by] imagining herself [as] a seer-like medium…Addie represents…the sins of her fathers and forefathers, of her husband and herself...” (Baldwin, para. 27). This is evident in Addie’s association with the “terrible blood.” Like Addie, Anse’s sinful characteristics are also clearly emphasized. He is portrayed as a terribly lazy, greedy individual; in the text, Anse excuses himself from physical labor by claiming to have a sweating disease that will kill him if he perspires. Moreover, Anse selfishly holds out on calling a doctor after Cash’s leg is broken because he does not want to pay for the necessity. Faulkner accentuates the attributes of Addie and Anse in order to show that their children are products of themselves, as done with their firstborn son, Cash. Cash’s inborn single-mindedness is a direct result of his mother’s feeling of “emotional isolation” before his birth (Bond, 1986, para. 1). Addie’s ravenous desire for attention is reflected in Cash’s inability to focus on more than one object or task at a time. Darl observes Cash’s machinelike behavior as he builds Addie’s coffin with extreme concentration, “He takes up the saw again;…it moves up and down…[with] unhurried imperviousness as a piston moves in the oil;…tireless…” (Faulkner, p. 77). Furthermore, Cash’s cognitive limitations are evident in his narratives. For example, his commentary on page 82 consists of a list of thirteen points describing the design of Addie’s coffin as he focuses on a single string of thought. Addie recognizes that her “aloneness [was]…never…violated until Cash came…” (p. 77). Thus, Cash was born with a simplistic mind in order to relieve Addie of her loneliness, by solely focusing on her. Jewel’s character displays the strongest correlation between his attributes and Addie’s. Jewel was born out of the passionate, spiritually violent, adulterous relationship between Addie and Reverend Whitfield. Consequently, Jewel exhibits violent behavior throughout the novel, as seen in his verbal and physical abuse toward his horse. In his narrative, Jewel envisions himself with his mother on top of a hill as he rolls “the rocks down the hill at their faces,” in reference to the many visitors that have come to see Addie on her deathbed (p. 15). Not only does Jewel demonstrate a strong connection with his mother, but he is also the only child of the family that does not exhibit Anse’s indolence, because he is not Anse’s child. As a part of their inheritance, Cash and Jewel both received their parents’ depravity before birth. For example, Cash’s inborn traits not only include his monotony of thought, but also Anse’s selfishness. After discovering that his brother Darl burnt down the Gillespie’s barn, Cash’s uncompassionate comments that Darl could never find an excuse for destroying something that a man put so much effort into building, as if work and material objects meant more than his sibling. It is also clear that Jewel inherited Addie’s deceitful attributes; he secretly worked at night at a neighbor’s farm for an entire summer in order to earn a horse. During this time, Jewel kept his second job a secret, and sometimes feigned illness in order to receive his mother’s special care. She weeps when she discovers his deception because she realizes how her qualities of sin and secrecy have been passed on to her children. In reference to her own depravity, Addie eventually resolves “…that the reason [for her affair with Whitfield] was the duty to the alive, to the terrible blood.” (p. 174). This statement emphasizes that everyone has sin, and implies that there is an innate compulsion to sin felt by people. As Baldwin explains, “By sleeping with Anse and having his children, she has been penetrated by the legacy of ancestral sins, violated by the land itself.” (para. 27). Therefore, Faulkner establishes that sin is inescapable because it is present in everyone and is innately passed down from generation to generation in a never-ending cycle of depravity. References Baldwin, Marc (1993). Faulkner Journal: Volume VII Numbers 1 &2. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from Dr. Marc Baldwin, Professor of English Web site: http://www.hccfl.edu/Faculty/MarcBaldwin/publications/faulkner.htm Bond, Adrienne. “From Addie Bundren to Pearl Tull: The Secularization of the South.” //EXPLORING Novels.// Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Discovering Collection//. Gale. State of Delaware – Division of Library. 6 Mar. 2008 . Brooks, Cleanth (1966). //William Faulkner: The Yoknapatawpha Country//. Forge Village, MA: The Murray Printing Company. Faulkner, William (1930). //As I Lay Dying//. New York, NY: Vintage International.